Narrow Head don’t need to convince anyone that they’re one of the best heavy rock bands on the rise right now. They’ve already proven they’re loud and if you witness them live, it’s a given that earplugs are extra recommended. Three albums into their career, to achieve further ascent into the atmosphere, the Houston band’s gravitational fixation now turns toward pop to fuel the drive heavenward into life’s darker matter. The end result is Moments of Clarity, an album that does not disassociate the five-piece of guitarist and lead vocalist Jacob Duarte, guitarist and synthesist Kora Puckett, guitarist Will Menjivar, bassist Ryan Chavez, and drummer Carson Wilcox away from the existential malaise that has permeated themes throughout the course of their liftoff, and rather acknowledges the weight through song. That in itself can be freeing and furthers Narrow Head into a space beyond any anxieties’ pull. Working alongside producer Sonny Diperri (Nine Inch Nails, My Blood Valentine) it’s an album that also formally disconnects their sound from any relationship to alleged grunge-gazing by way of smoothing over their big hooks’ orbits, corralling wandering feedback into blazing riff columns, layering in high voltage synthesizers, and pushing Duarte’s cleanly into view alongside that of the pain of the human condition. The collective alternative energy on this go sends their rock even higher without letting go of the heaviness. It’ll always be there at every turn. They’ve just learning how to carry it differently.

Highlights: “The Real”, “Caroline”, “Soft to Touch”

Narrow Head’s Moments of Clarity is available now on Run for Cover Records.

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